The subject matter disclosed herein relates to patient imaging systems, and more specifically, to portable X-ray imaging systems.
In the field of medicine, doctors routinely desire to conduct patient imaging examinations in order to non-invasively assess the internal tissue of a patient. While patient imaging systems, such as an X-ray imaging system, are typically present in hospitals and doctor's offices, a patient must be able to travel to such a location to have the imaging performed. However, certain settings (e.g., rural locations, developing nations, military field hospitals, etc.) may require patient imaging systems that are portable so that they may be brought into the field. In addition to portability, these systems must also be robust to deal with environmental limitations and conditions during system transport and operation.
An important advent in the field is the appearance of wireless X-ray detectors. A wireless X-ray detector offers numerous advantages, including portability and simple setup. In a portable patient imaging system involving a wireless X-ray detector, one challenge is synchronizing the various activities of the imaging system over a potentially unreliable wireless communication link. For example, since patient imaging involves exposing a patient to radiation from a radiation source, it is important that this attenuated radiation be detected in an efficient fashion to maximize the effectiveness of the exam while minimizing the exposure of the patient to radiation. Therefore, it is important to be able to synchronize the operation of the radiation source and detector so that the radiation that has passed through the patient may be properly detected and not be unnecessarily wasted. However, the wireless communication link used by wireless X-ray detectors, like all wireless communication, is subject to noise and interference. Since the wireless communication link may, at times, suffer from throughput or latency issues, the communication link may be unavailable or delayed in delivering messages.